Kiko’s Food News: 12.9.11

December 8th, 2011 by Kirsten

In this “Biggest Loser” video spoof by Food & Water Watch, the corporate fat cat is the inevitable winner unless the government steps in with farm bill measures that help keep independent farmers afloat and consumers from being obese: (full story)

Another way to use taxation to de-incentivize sugar consumption: research at Iowa State demonstrates that taxing manufacturers on their use of sweeteners would be more effective than taxing the finished sugary food: (full story)

Filet mignon and Jameson are the most shoplifted items in the US, and cheese is the most shoplifted in the world–don’t go getting any smart ideas, now! (full story)

The UN has completed its first-ever global assessment of the state of the planet’s land resources (what took so long??), finding in a report released Monday that a quarter of all land is highly degraded, and most available land is already being farmed (mostly in ways that decrease its productivity): (full story)

The government spent a record $71.8 billion on the SNAP (food stamp) program last year, or about 12 percent of the national grocery bill, underscoring the benefit’s importance as revenue for big grocers and explaining the fight by Kroger, Safeway, Supervalu, and other chains against cutting spending on them: (full story)

What if, as an alternative to food presentation or service, we could search for restaurant reviews focusing on the health and sustainability of its food as metrics? (full story)